**Updated 4/2/21 - the MidWeek Tease blog hop has ended.**
Welcome once again to the MidWeek Tease Blog Hop! This blog hop is where a group of authors each share an excerpt from a published book or a work-in-progress. Be sure to check out all the participating authors on the list at the end of this entry. This week, I have an excerpt from Seducing Light. Enjoy!
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Nick stopped on the porch and turned around, putting one large hand in the middle of my chest. No bolt of lightning from the approaching storm could have singed me more. Suddenly he was a flesh-and-blood man to me, not a movie star.
“Hold on a minute, Myles. Let’s get one thing straight before you invade my space.”
I nodded. Hell, I’d agree to anything he wanted.
“Your equipment stays in the case until I tell you that you can get it out. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Nick opened the door to the house, and I followed him inside. He set the case down in the spacious, two-story foyer and motioned for me to tag along behind him. The hallway opened into the grandest kitchen I’d ever seen. Taking up the entire southwest corner of the house, the room was modern, warm, and inviting. Bay windows with red and white gingham-covered cushions on the window seats flanked the massive stone fireplace.
My photographer’s eye filled the room with afternoon sunlight. I had a vision of Nick Light sitting at the table in the large bay of windows, in that sunshine, smiling at me. That would be a money shot I’d never share with anyone. His voice, sharp with annoyance, brought me out of my reverie.
“Do you want something to drink, or not?”
I squared my shoulders and replied I’d take a soft drink, cola if he had it. He nodded and pointed at the oak table in the sunny corner breakfast nook.
“Set your notebook up. I want to see your work.”
Nick placed a full lead crystal tumbler down in front of me as my laptop booted. I thanked him and drank, grateful for the cold, dark liquid fizzing its way down my parched throat. He spun the computer to face him, typed in his access code for his wireless connection, and turned it back to me.
I cleared my throat and typed the URL for my website.
“Okay, Mr. Light, here’s a little—”
“Nick. Call me Nick.”
I nodded and hoped I didn’t stutter when I tried to say his name for the first time. “Nick. I’ll just point out that all my professional information is on the website and move on to the photos.”
“I see you have references. Are they valid?”
Fuck. He had heard the stories.
I rolled the cursor over the link and the page opened for him to see. He read the names, then nodded. “I don’t know any of them, so you won’t mind if I call them, right?”
“Sure. Call ’em. Just don’t be surprised if they don’t believe you’re Nick Light.”
He snorted again, the corner of his mouth quirking up in what might actually be a little smile. “I get that a lot, boy.”
I didn’t answer, just clicked on the slideshow and leaned back to watch it with him. His focus shifted to the screen. I watched him as the pictures scrolled. Every so often, he’d nod or cock his head, but he didn’t speak. We sat there in silence as the clouds slid past the sun and the rain dribbled down the outside of the windows. Finally, he spoke.
“Okay. You’re good. But with your reputation, how’d you get this job?”
I met his gaze. “Don’t believe everything you hear about me.”
His chin lifted. His eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
“Because it’s not true.”
Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me your version of it then.”
My temper flared. “I was hired to do a job—take a photo shoot of your ranch. I have a copy of the contract in my case, and nowhere in that contract does it say I owe you any explanations.”
His response was unexpected. “You want that sandwich now, boy?”
Tired of him referring to me as “boy,” I shot him a look and froze at the glittering curiosity in his eyes. He studied me, his green gaze a mix of wary caution, grudging respect, and more. I fell into those mystical depths, forgetting to breathe as the blood pooled in my groin.
My heart stuttered, then hammered in my chest. I couldn’t look away, even as my face grew hot under his scrutiny. My cock swelled, rising as the phantom of my nights stared at me with witchy interest.
Nick Light was gay.
_*_*_
ABOUT SEDUCING LIGHT
Asher Myles struggled to put his life back together after an identity thief stripped him of everything but his talent for capturing light and shadow with a camera lens. With a new job and a new start, Asher’s on his way to Montana – and a meeting with the man he’s fantasized about since he first saw him on the silver screen.
Nick Light, actor, director, and Hollywood royalty, doesn’t like paparazzi. When he agrees to have his Montana ranch photographed for a style magazine, the unexpected happens. Asher's not the man Nick expected to find behind the camera. Asher knows he'll have to convince Nick they belong together, but he has an edge.
Because if there’s one thing Nick can’t resist, it’s a man with a talent for seducing light.
SEDUCING LIGHT is available at iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.
KC Kendricks
